Interactive knowledge based game system

ABSTRACT

A computerized system for operating a skill or knowledge based interactive game and several new modes of play for such a game. The invention is applicable to single or multi player ‘trivia’ or other knowledge based games, and could also be applied to games where the player&#39;s visual observation skills are tested and rewarded. It is particularly useful to public venues such as bars, taverns or social clubs as it provides entertainment and prizes for the patrons and cash revenue to the owner/operator of the premises. The incorporation of a discrete player input to designate an answer not included in the displayed answer group i.e. “None of the Above” or “Bogus” enhances game play and enjoyment.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is entitled to the benefit of Provisional PatentApplication Ser. 60/518,789 filed Nov. 10, 2003.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to single and multiple player knowledgegames and systems.

2. Description of Prior Art

There is considerable prior art in this field, much of which is notpatented but is simply in the public domain. Knowledge based games(particularly ‘trivia games’) have been popular in manual andcomputerized versions for many years. The board game “Trivial Pursuit”from the early 1980's is an example of a recent incarnation of a manualtrivia game. Many manufacturers of coin-operated amusement machines haveproduced ‘trivia’ games using multiple-choice questions and scoring theplayer based on the correctness and timeliness of their answers. Evenprior to computerizing these games, there was one particularlyinteresting amusement machine that optically projected questions to theplayer, which were still-frame images on a 16 mm film. An optical codewas included on the film to indicate to several photocells in themechanism which of the offered answers was the correct one so that itcould be scored correctly. There are similar multi-player games, whichare now offered, online over the Internet but which do not incorporatethe improvements in my invention, which are enumerated here.

Of particular interest in this field are recent Inselberg U.S. Pat. Nos.6,760,595 and 6,650,903 which interactively query sports spectators atmajor events via wireless or wired terminals in order to ascertain theiropinions about various aspects of the event and may offer games to thespectators as an adjunct to their primary function which is actually todeliver sponsored advertising messages.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,755 by Kelly, et al is just one representativeexample out of many for a system of delivering prizes to players on agame system with multiple players which is designed for applicationsusing home computers on a wide area network.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,155 by Zucker, et al is an ‘everything but thekitchen sink’ approach to providing a skill game for play at remotelocations with the awarding of prizes, but presupposes and/or requiressome knowledge of the player's individual characteristics anddynamically modifies the game presented based on those characteristics.

Barcelou's U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,271 issued Apr. 11, 2000 is similar inconcept to the new invention but requires at least two players in acompetitive environment whereas the current invention operates with aminimum of one player.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,573,824 issued to Lovegreen, et al. on Jun. 3, 2003 fora “combination paging and gaming system and apparatus” describes thedetailed operation of a typical trivia or knowledge based game system inconjunction with a restaurant ‘table available’ paging system. Thepresent invention adds the element of accumulation of cash prizes ormerchandise awards to this workable concept and additionally provides amethod to update database records securely.

As stated previously, this field is littered with games and systemswhich operate satisfactorily in their own way, but the present inventionadds the primary feature of a ‘distraction element’ consisting of thealways present “None of the Above” answer option as well as otherrefinements.

SUMMARY

I have developed a computerized system for operating a skill orknowledge based interactive game and several new modes of play for sucha game. The player's response options always include a “Bogus” in theevent no correctly matching response is presented to a query. Theinvention is particularly applicable to single or multi player ‘trivia’or other knowledge based games. It is particularly useful to publicvenues such as bars, taverns or social clubs as it providesentertainment and prizes for the patrons and cash revenue to theowner/operator of the premises. The incorporation of a discrete playerinput to designate an answer not included in the displayed answer groupi.e. “None of the Above” or “Bogus” enhances game play, entertainmentvalue and enjoyment by the players and spectators.

OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES

The objects of my invention are to provide an interesting knowledgebased skill game to players, provide an improved revenue source tooperators of skill games, provide a game with questions which may alsobe topical and/or local to the installation and provide multipleoperating modes.

My invention provides more interesting game operating modes for theplayers, including a mode in which none of the provided answers iscorrect and for which a separate and discrete user input channel isprovided. The occasional presentation of a set of ‘Bogus’ answers makesa more entertaining game and provides mirthful entertainment for theplayers.

An additional advantage of my invention is that it incorporates multipleinput stations for player interface in a modular and expandableconfiguration so that a system operator can start with an affordablesingle or two player system and subsequently add low-cost player inputstations or terminals as financial conditions warrant.

An additional advantage of my invention is that all the rules for gameplay are disclosed to the players, and the game operates strictly as askill or knowledge game with no randomized events which affect the gameor game cycle outcomes. It is therefore not classifiable as a gamblingor ‘gaming’ device but strictly a skill game and therefore exempt fromgaming regulation.

An additional advantage of my invention is the provision forgeographical or ethnographic presentation of game questions. Questionscan be provided which are (for example) geographically specific, and theoperator interface of the game provides a means of locating the machinegeographically—for instance, the ZIP code of the location of the game isentered and then questions relevant to that geographic area can be addedto the displayed question groups.

An additional advantage of my invention is the provision fortime-specific presentation of game questions. Questions are coded with astart and end date and these dates are compared with the clock in thecontrolling system and displayed if the question time frame contains thecurrent time. Although this may be transparent to the operator andplayers, it becomes an economic benefit to the manufacturer of thesystem as it allows question groups to be commercially sponsored for aspecific time frame.

An additional advantage of my invention is the provision for adding orupdating the question data while maximizing revenue to the manufacturer.New questions are supplied to all users in encrypted form on magnetic orCDROM media. In order to transfer the questions to the individualsystem, an individual system specific password (coordinated with theserial number of one of the player terminals resident on each system—the‘key terminal’) must be entered to decrypt the supplied new data andre-encrypt it onto the individual game system. The provision of new dataand questions is expected to be an ongoing revenue source to themanufacturer, and this ‘key locking’ assures that the provider willreceive proper payment.

Among the additional advantages of my invention over prior art is theability of the system to dynamically reconfigure the game parameters inresponse to several factors including player load, time of day and otherfactors. This dynamic reconfiguration will result in greater revenue forthe system and more interest from the players.

Other advantages of my invention will become apparent as the system isdescribed and developed.

DRAWING FIGURES

I have included 2 drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block representation of the overall knowledge based gamesystem showing the basic configuration.

FIG. 2 is a prototypical sample of the front panel of one of the playerterminals.

REFERENCE NUMERALS IN DRAWINGS

-   101: Host computer system including processor, power supplies,    storage media, and operating system.-   102: Primary Display system such as a computer monitor or video    display device-   103: Optional remote display devices which repeat information on the    primary display.-   104: Game software—shown as a separate item but normally resident in    storage media in host computer system 101-   105: Communications Controller/Data Concentrator which may also be    integrated into the host computer system as an embedded peripheral.-   106: Player terminals connected to host computer-   107: Optional currency validator-   108: Indicia apparatus such as LED, LCD or other display for player    feedback-   109: Optional coin or token slot or slots-   110: Optional connection for GUID device-   111: Optional secondary indicators for terminal/game status to    player

DESCRIPTION

The basic components of my invention are shown in FIG. 1 and are morecompletely described individually in the following paragraphs.

A computer system 101 is arranged to provide information to a displaysystem 102 and optionally to additional display subsystems 103 locatedwithin the premises. The computer system is running the game systemsoftware 104 which controls all aspects of the operation of the game.Although the software 104 is shown in FIG. 1 as a separate component, itis understood that the software is generally stored within theindividual computer, but could be external on a local or wide-areanetwork. The computer system communicates bidirectionally with a datainterface/concentrator device 105 which communicates bidirectionallywith and controls the operation of one or more player input terminals106. An optional coin/currency validator and player cash terminal device107 may also be included.

The computer system may internally consist of any sort of ‘off theshelf’ generic computer which includes the following components inaddition to the minimum standard hardware, firmware and softwarerequired to boot to a usable operating system which provides support forall the associated hardware. It is expected that the computer will useany commercially available operating system such as Microsoft Windows,Unix, Xenix, Linux or other similar system which provides a graphicaluser interface (GUI) or text-based I/O.

-   -   Mass Read/Write Storage Device (Typically a hard disk drive in        current technology)    -   Data interface and Input/Output (A serial data port,        bi-directional printer port, USB port or an Ethernet connection        are examples of currently available technology). This interface        communicates with the ‘data concentrator’ apparatus.    -   Display Interface device (‘Video card’) which is compatible with        the computer's internal or connected display device and any        external display devices installed on the premises, should any        such devices be installed. External video devices may utilize        baseband video or radio frequency distribution such as via a        modulator or wireless adapter.    -   An optional removable media ROM device such as a CD-ROM, or a        network connection of some sort for updating database        information.

The Data Concentrator/Interface device 105 is connected to andcontrolled by the computer system. This connection may be through anexternal path such as an RS-232 serial port, Centronics style parallelport, USB, wi-fi or other as yet undetermined communications protocol.The Data Concentrator might also be integrated into the internalstructure of the computer system by manufacturing it onto an ISA or PCIcard, or the Data Concentrator may be implemented in host software. Itcontains circuitry and low-level firmware which provides thebidirectional data pathway between the computer system and the playerterminals 106 and other game peripherals such as a currency validator orcontrol terminal 107. Among the functions of the Data Concentrator aredata translation between the computer and player terminals, temporarystorage of player terminal data, control of the communication betweenthe interface and the player terminals and arbitration of communicationclashes on the player terminal buses.

The data concentrator receives command and control data from thecomputer system and controls the operation of the player inputterminals. It receives player data from the terminals and stores andprocesses it for use as needed by the computer and software. The datainterface may also serve as a power source for supplying operating powerto the player terminals. Each data concentrator has an internal ‘serialnumber’ to uniquely identify that particular device to the operatingsystem and game software for security and cash accounting purposes. Inaddition to serving as the electrical and data format interface betweenthe computer and the player terminals, the data concentrator includesnon-volatile memory to store accumulated system statistics for cashaccounting and system security. The data concentrator may befunctionally integrated into the firmware and hardware of one or more ofthe player terminals and serve as the ‘key terminal’ for systemoperation.

The player terminals are mechanical enclosures of possibly diversephysical configurations which contain the following components:

1. A mechanical or electrical input array to determine a game player'sinput selection, such as a group of electrical switches 108 or a “Coinor Token Actuated Multiple Choice Selector” 109 as disclosed inprovisional patent application ER508313140U.S. of Oct. 28, 2003. Bothinput array devices may coexist on the same user terminal to provideflexibility in operation.

2. A microprocessor or microcontroller and associated interface wiring,firmware, software and hardware to:

-   -   Determine which user input is selected and the relative time at        which that selection is made,    -   Store that information temporarily and then    -   Transfer said information to the central controller via a data        connection to the data concentrator apparatus.    -   Receive appropriate information from the central controller for        terminal operation, status display and operation of the terminal        user interface.

3. A unique means of identifying the particular terminal hardware to thesystem central controller (such as a serial number or otheridentification) to allow the system to accurately account for and creditplayer data to the respective terminal and associated player. Theidentification may optionally identify the particular terminal as a ‘keyterminal’ to allow/disallow game operation and database decryption andupdating.

4. The player terminal may also optionally include:

-   -   A means of uniquely identifying an individual player to the        system such as an external ROM reader device 110, i.e. Dallas        Semiconductor Corp.'s iButton devices or similar.    -   A set of indicating devices 111 to furnish game status        information to the player at the terminal. The indicating        devices could take the form of a row of LEDs or a LCD display        device or other similar apparatus. Such user information might        consist of verification of the player's input selection and        system feedback as to whether or not the player's answer was        timely and correct as well as the current credit status of the        player.        Before Describing the Operation and Results of the Invention it        will be Helpful to Describe the Question/Answer Cycle:        Each Round or Cycle of Play Consists of the Following Steps:

1. The central controller instructs each satellite player terminal toreset its internal Real-Time Clock (RTC). This is a broadcastinstruction to all terminals so that all player terminal clocks aresynchronized with each other. (If sufficiently accurate RTC devices areincluded in the player terminals, this step may be unnecessary but isincluded here as the “Time Zero” reference and allows the use of lessexpensive RTC or other timing devices).

2. The central controller selects a question from its question databaseand selects a pool of possible answers to the question. Each questiondata record contains the question text, one best correct answer andseveral (4 or more) close but incorrect answers to the question.Although the terms ‘question’ and ‘answer’ are used herein, the readershould also understand that these terms are broadly interpreted as tothe formulation of data records. A round might use just single words orphrases for each data point, such as expecting a match between “Man inBlack” and “Johnny Cash” or “The Duke” and “John Wayne”. The data recordincludes ancillary information such as question category andsubcategory, difficulty level and other data fields as required by thecontrol software for game operation, security and financial accounting.

3. The central controller sequentially displays the possible answers tothe question on the display system. Each of these displayed answers islabeled with a unique symbol which corresponds with one of the symbolspresented on the player game terminals. It is important to note that akey feature of this game is the possibility that no correct answers tothe presented question are included in the group of displayed answers,and that the presence or absence of a correct answer in the field ofdisplayed answers is randomly determined by the central controllersoftware. Most questions will have had a correct answer displayed, butoccasionally there will be no correct answer to a presented question.

4. After displaying all of the members of the field of possible answers,the controller then displays the associated question selected from thedatabase.

5. The players having viewed the answers and question may now selecttheir answer from those offered. If the system presents four possibleanswers to a question, the player terminals are capable of recording afifth player selection of “None of the Above”, “NOTA” or “Bogus” or suchother descriptor as would be appropriate in the event that none of thepresented answers correctly answered the presented question. It is a keyfeature of this game that a complete field of incorrect answers may bepresented to the players and the correct answer to the presentedquestion may be “None”, and that a discrete input channel is provided torecord this answer entry by the player. When a player selects an answerto the presented question, the player's answer data and the relativetime of that answer as determined by the RTC included in the playerterminal are stored within the player terminal by appropriateprogramming of the terminal hardware, software and firmware. The playerterminals may also include indicator apparatus (Such as an array of LEDsor similar) to provide to the player a verification of which of theanswers they selected for that cycle.

6. The central processor now initiates a poll of all the player dataterminals through the data concentrator. Within a predetermined orpreprogrammed time frame all active terminals are polled to determine ifan answer was presented by the player at the terminal and if so, whatthat answer was and at what relative time it was entered by the player.

7. The central processor examines the received polled data to determinethe total cycle revenue pool by counting the total number of playerterminals which have presented answers to the question during this cycleand multiplying this by the per-answer entry cost. The cycle prize poolis then determined by subtracting the operator programmed holdbackpercentage from the revenue.

8. The central processor examines the received polled data to determinewhich of the players selected the correct answer to the presentedquestion. From the group of correct answers, the RTC timestamp from theplayer terminals is examined to determine the order in which the playerscorrectly answered i.e. first correct answer from Terminal 4, SecondCorrect Answer from Terminal B and Third Correct answer from TerminalBlue, etc.

9. The central processor consults an operator programmed lookup table(An example of which is shown in Table 1) to determine the amount ofcredit from the cycle prize pool to be added to the ‘point balance’ ofeach player who provided the correct answer in the appropriate timeframe.

10. The central processor then adds the appropriate credit to each validplayer's point balance, the display system shows the current status ofall current players, the internal accounting records of cashtransactions are updated from the polled data and the cycle ends.

In operation, the game proceeds by having the system present answers andquestions and the players insert coins or tokens into their respectiveterminals in response thereto, or by players using credits which theyhave won in previous games or which have been entered into the systemthrough a currency validator or other credit mechanism. In operation, aplayer may exchange their accumulated credits or points for theequivalent in cash or merchandise from the operator of the system. Thesystem lends itself well to casual play or tournament styles ofoperation as described below:

Game Modes of Operation: There are several initially contemplatedoperating modes for game play, each of which may have severalvariations. Other modes will become readily apparent to a practitionerskilled in the art once the initial modes are understood.

-   -   Open Play Mode: When not otherwise operating in one of the other        modes, the game system will operate in this mode. The        Answer/Question cycle will start, and any players at the        terminials may participate if they desire. A prize pool for each        question is determined by taking a percentage of the total        receipts for the question cycle. For instance, if three players        participated in the cycle by entering coins or using accumulated        credit, and the participation cost were $0.25 (twenty-five        cents) per player, the total revenue for the cycle would be        3×$0.25 or seventy-five cents. If the holdback percentage were        20%, the cycle prize pool for the cycle would be 80% of the        $0.75 or sixty cents. Once this prize pool for the question was        calculated, it would be divided among the players who answered        the question correctly. Although the prize pool may be divided        among all participating players providing the correct answer, it        is anticipated that the primary operating mode will pay only the        first three players who correctly answer the question. One        possible arrangement would pay the first correct answer 60        percent of the pool, the second correct answer would receive 30%        of the pool and the third correct answer would receive the        remaining 10 percent of the pool. If fewer than three players        answered the question correctly this payout relationship would        be pro-rated to the players who did answer the question        correctly. If there were fewer than 3 players participating in        the cycle the payout table in Table 1 shows one of many possible        distributions of the prize pool.    -   Single Player Open Play Mode: At times the business        establishment in which the system is installed may not have more        than one person interested in playing the game. To provide        reinforcement and stimulation of game play, a special ‘single        player’ payout table is included in the system programming. This        payout table rewards correct answers in single player game        cycles with a payout greater than the revenue generated by the        cycle. For example, if a single player inserts 25 cents into the        system and the player's answer selected is correct the player        could be rewarded by a payback of 26 cents. An optional feature        of this mode would be system owner programmability of the        payback amount and/or modulation of the correct answer payout in        a manner that would provide a greater payback depending on the        length of time required to select the answer. (The faster the        player selects a correct answer, the greater the payback.)        Although it may seem counter-intuitive to expect a profit from a        machine which theoretically pays out more than it takes in, it        is expected that this small player advantage will result in        minimal actual loss for the game system. Presuming a very speedy        3 question cycles per minute and a player with perfect scores,        the net loss to the establishment is $1.80 per hour. Every        missed question supports the net loss from 25 correct answers.        If the player selects the correct answers only 95 percent of the        time there will actually be net revenue to the establishment of        1% of the handle. As soon as a second player participates in the        games the operation becomes profitable again.

Tournament Modes: Several multi-player modes are contemplated which notonly reward individual players on an ‘answer by answer’ basis but alsoaccumulate prizes until a specified time or prize account balance isreached. In these tournament modes the prize pool for each question issplit between an ‘instantaneous’ pool which is awarded as describedpreviously and the remainder of each question's prize pool isaccumulated in a ‘tournament’ prize pool. For the sake of simplicity andfor example only, let us assume that there are ten players in atournament and that the instantaneous and accumulated prizes are split50/50 on each cycle. Each question cycle might generate a prize pool of$1.75 (The $2.50 of the 10 players less the 30% holdout for theestablishment's profit) which would then be split 50/50 between theinstantaneous payout to the players and the remainder ($0.88) adds tothe Tournament prize pool. When either A) the Tournament prize poolreached a fixed dollar amount or B) a specific time of day arrived, thenext question cycle would award the entire tournament pool to thewinners of that question. The exact method of allocating the awards issoftware configurable during system setup and operation. TABLE 1 SAMPLEPAYOUT TABLE Payout Table for Various Modes Correct Answer Payouts:Total First Second Third # players Cash In Payout % Paid Places Cash OutPays Pays Pays 1 $0.25 104% 1 Only $0.26 $0.26 0 0 2 $0.50 80% 1 and 2$0.40 $0.28 $0.12 0 3 $0.75 70% 1, 2 and 3 $0.53 $0.32 $0.16 $0.05 4$1.00 70% 1, 2 and 3 $0.70 $0.42 $0.21 $0.07 5 $1.25 70% 1, 2 and 3$0.88 $0.53 $0.26 $0.09 6 $1.50 70% 1, 2 and 3 $1.05 $0.63 $0.32 $0.11 7$1.75 70% 1, 2 and 3 $1.23 $0.74 $0.37 $0.12 8 $2.00 70% 1, 2 and 3$1.40 $0.84 $0.42 $0.14 9 $2.25 70% 1, 2 and 3 $1.58 $0.95 $0.47 $0.1610 $2.50 70% 1, 2 and 3 $1.75 $1.05 $0.53 $0.18 Payout matrix: 1 player100% 2 players 70% 30% 3 or more 60% 30% 10%Additional Operations—Game Database Updating

Game systems which are not connected to the Internet or other wide areanetwork need an alternate method of updating or freshening theirdatabase of questions on a regular basis so the game does not become‘stale’ for the players. In the present invention, it is anticipatedthat game system owners will subscribe to an updating service to providefresh material. For economy of scale, these updates will be provided onmachine-readable magnetic or optical media such as floppy disks, CD-ROMor DVD-ROM. It is desirable that the provider of the updated databasematerial maximize revenue from this facet of their business operation,and a primary way of accomplishing this revenue enhancement is toprovide updates on a ‘subscription per installed system’ basis. In theevent that an entity owns more than one of the game systems, it isdesirable that the update provider supply a limited number of copies ofthe machine readable material and the game owner can use that singlepiece of media to update the database in each of the systems he/sheowns. Accordingly, the database updates are supplied in encrypted formand in order to transfer them to the game database they must bedecrypted before the transfer occurs. (As a side note, and unrelated tothe operation being described, the game database is also encrypted so‘hackers’ cannot easily ascertain the contents.)

The process of decryption and transfer depends on the user having a‘password’ which is congruent to a particular ‘key terminal’ installedon a system, said password being supplied in exchange for payment of theupdate fee. Since each individual system has a unique ‘key terminal’identifier and each of these identifiers will be identified with aunique password for the update, the user must pay separately for eachsystem to be updated, thereby assuring revenue to the database supplier.

Alternative Embodiments

There are various possibilities for different physical and mechanicalarrangements to accomplish the same purpose as described above.Variations in terminal shape and size, the use of differentmicroprocessors or microcontrollers within the terminals, and a plethoraof other variations of no operational consequence would be expected. Apractitioner skilled in the art would have no difficulty implementingother configurations once the design parameters as expressed in thisdocument were presented.

Conclusion, Ramifications, and Scope

Accordingly, the reader will see that the invention provides a novelmeans for operating a knowledge based game system such as an interactivetrivia game or similar and provides additional user features such asdisplaying questions of a local scope and providing time sensitivequestions as an additional revenue source.

Although the descriptive information provided above contains manyspecificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope ofthe invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of thepresently developed or preferred embodiments of the invention.Mechanical variations in the physical shape or size of the components aswell as variations in the software algorithm which could be applied tothe operation of the invention are readily imagined and implemented.

Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appendedclaims and their legal equivalents rather than by the examples given.

1: An interactive knowledge based game system comprising a centralcontrol unit consisting of a display system 102 and general purposecomputer 101 interconnected with and communicating bidirectionally withone or more player terminal devices 106 using any availablecommunication method. Said general-purpose computer includes hardware,software 104 and database components to operate and display a knowledgebased game and interact with the location management and player terminaldevices to set and operate the game parameters, determine the player'sresponses to displayed questions and provide necessary interactiontherewith. 2: Said interactive knowledge based game system in claim 1 inwhich each player terminal device includes a plurality of inputindicating devices to convey to the central control unit the user'sintended response and the time thereof, with one of the input indicatingdevices dedicated to conveying the user's selection representing ananswer of “None of the Above” or “Bogus”. 3: Said interactive knowledgebased game system in claim 1 in which each player terminal deviceinternally contains a unique identification which can be communicated tothe central control unit 4: Said interactive knowledge based game systemin claim 1 in which each player terminal device may also incorporateprovision for an external user identification token which can becommunicated to the central control unit. 5: Said interactive knowledgebased game system in claim 1 in which new knowledge based questions andanswers may be provided to the system in a secure manner by allowingtransfer of question data to the game database only after verificationof security protocols contained in one or more of the attached playerterminal devices. 6: Said interactive knowledge based game system inclaim 1 in which each game database question/answer record may beadditionally tagged or coded to indicate a geographic, ethnographic orother similar qualifier for the display of said question/answer and anoperator interface within the game system allows display of the datarecord only in agreement with the coded qualifier. 7: Said interactiveknowledge based game system in claim 1 in which each game databasequestion/answer record may be additionally tagged or coded to indicate avalid time frame for the display of said question/answer and a real-timeclock function within the game system allows display of the data recordonly during the coded valid time frame. 8: Said interactive knowledgebased game system in claim 1 in which each game database question/answerrecord may be encrypted, and any new data supplied to the system mayalso be encrypted, and the decryption key may be contained in or derivedfrom one or more of the player terminals unique identifiers andcommunicated to the controller. 9: Said interactive knowledge based gamesystem in claim 1 in which additional database records may be enteredinto a system manually through a user interface or other means by theowner or operator of the system to provide local ‘flavor’ to thequestion database.